To meet the demand for wireless data traffic having increased since deployment of 4th-generation (4G) communication systems, efforts have been made to develop an improved 5th-generation (5G) or pre-5G communication system. Therefore, the 5G or pre-5G communication system is also called a ‘Beyond 4G Network’ or a ‘Post long term evolution (LTE) System’. The 5G communication system is considered to be implemented in higher frequency (mmWave) bands, e.g., 60 GHz bands, so as to accomplish higher data rates. To decrease propagation loss of the radio waves and increase the transmission distance, the beamforming, massive multiple-input multiple-output (MIMO), full dimensional MIMO (FD-MIMO), array antenna, an analog beam forming, large scale antenna techniques are discussed in 5G communication systems. In addition, in 5G communication systems, development for system network improvement is under way based on advanced small cells, cloud radio access networks (RANs), ultra-dense networks, device-to-device (D2D) communication, wireless backhaul, moving network, cooperative communication, coordinated multi-points (CoMP), reception-end interference cancellation and the like. In the 5G system, hybrid frequency shift keying (FSK) and quadrature amplitude modulation (QAM) (FQAM) and sliding window superposition coding (SWSC) as an advanced coding modulation (ACM), and filter bank multi carrier (FBMC), non-orthogonal multiple access (NOMA), and sparse code multiple access (SCMA) as an advanced access technology have been developed.
The internet, which is a human centered connectivity network where humans generate and consume information, is now evolving to the internet of things (IoT) where distributed entities, such as things, exchange and process information without human intervention. The internet of everything (IoE), which is a combination of the IoT technology and the big data processing technology through connection with a cloud server, has emerged. As technology elements, such as “sensing technology”, “wired/wireless communication and network infrastructure”, “service interface technology”, and “security technology” have been demanded for IoT implementation, a sensor network, a machine-to-machine (M2M) communication, machine type communication (MTC), and so forth have been recently researched. Such an IoT environment may provide intelligent Internet technology services that generate a new value to human life by collecting and analyzing data generated among connected things. IoT may be applied to a variety of fields including smart home, smart building, smart city, smart car or connected cars, smart grid, health care, smart appliances and advanced medical services through convergence and combination between existing information technology (IT) and various industrial applications.
In line with this, various attempts have been made to apply 5G communication systems to IoT networks. For example, technologies such as a sensor network, MTC, and M2M communication may be implemented by beamforming, MIMO, and array antennas. Application of a cloud RAN as the above-described big data processing technology may also be considered to be as an example of convergence between the 5G technology and the IoT technology.
Meanwhile, the third generation partnership project (3GPP) is working on an upcoming architecture where a LTE and a wireless local area network (WLAN) will be aggregated such that the LTE will control a transmission of packets over the WLAN. The WLAN access points (APs) will be hidden from a core network (CN) in the LTE; the associated evolved nodeB (eNB) will control the corresponding APs. In such an architecture where the LTE and the WLAN are aggregated such that the LTE controls the WLAN, one or more flows of one or more user equipment (UEs) associated with an LTE eNB can be either fully or partially diverted over the WLAN where the decision of routing the packets is determined by the eNB. In such the architecture, the way that the WLAN identifies the packets corresponding to the UE and flow of the UE is not yet addressed. This is of paramount importance because a receiver of the WLAN entity needs to route packets to the appropriate data plane entities of the associated UE. In the LTE, each flow (referred to as data radio bearer (DRB)) is handled by independent radio link control (RLC)/packet data convergence protocol (PDCP) entities, hence when the data packets are arriving at the receiver from the WLAN, it needs to be passed on to the correct data plane entity.
The WLAN APs will be hidden from the core network, the associated LTE eNB will control the corresponding WLAN APs. The 3GPP/WLAN radio interworking Release-12 solution enhances CN-based WLAN offload by improving user quality of experience (QoE) and network utilization and providing more control to operators. These improvements can be further enhanced by the LTE-WLAN aggregation system, similar to enhancements already available from existing LTE carrier aggregation and dual connectivity features. The LTE-WLAN aggregation system provides the following advantages. The WLAN access network becomes transparent to the CN. This provides the operator unified control and management of both 3GPP and WLAN networks as opposed to separately managing the 3GPP and WLAN networks. The aggregation and tight integration at radio level allows for real-time channel and load aware radio resource management across the WLAN and the LTE to provide significant capacity and QoE improvements.
The reliable LTE network can be used as a control and mobility anchor to provide the QoE improvements, minimize service interruption, and increase operator control. The WLAN-related CN signaling is eliminated. Thus results in reducing CN load in the LTE-WLAN aggregation system.
The above information is presented as background information only to assist with an understanding of the present disclosure. No determination has been made, and no assertion is made, as to whether any of the above might be applicable as prior art with regard to the present disclosure.